This was taken in front of my house night of Dec 2nd about 8.50 p.m Malaysia time. I was a little bit late to capture this and the moon is just about to hide behind the cloud. If I were earlier I would be able to capture a more pronounce mouth shape.
It is said that the left eye is Jupiter and the right eye (the brighter one) is Venus if the face is facing earth.. an occurrence once in every 44 years...
Calling for submissions for PhotoMalaysia.com 2nd Annual Photo Exhibition 2009.
OUR VANISHING HERITAGE
The theme for PhotoMalaysia 2009 Exhibition is Our Vanishing Heritage. This is a catch all theme that could include many aspects of our heritage that is rapidly vanishing as Malaysia progresses and prospers. It can include Vanishing Trades, Vanishing Landmarks, Vanishing cultural practices, Vanishing Traditional Dresses, Vanishing Tribes, Vanishing Landscapes, Vanishing Animals, and in fact it can encompass anything a photographer feel should be recognized, remembered, resurrected and even rejuvenated. It will be PhotoMalaysia Members photographic statement of those aspects of our culture that needs to be recorded, preserved, documented or remembered.
If it so happens that you have images of people/places/things thats already _not_ around (i.e. vanished), you're MOST welcome to contribute your work as well.
That being said, the theme is on subject matter located in Malaysia only. That bit is final.
In a nutshell, people will think of the obvious, namely:
1. People : remember the Mayban ad featuring a turbaned Sikh security guard fellow? How about barbers under trees or the one in sidelanes? Your 'Roti'man on a bicycle? The guy who roasted coffee on the back of a bicycle in the kampungs?
2. Places : The Bok house has been torn down, The old Bukit Bintang Girl School has been demolished and in it's current place now stand IMHO an ugly shopping mall, old cinemas has been replaced by cineplexes in malls etc
3. Things : the tiffin of old has been replaced by the obiquitious styrofoam. The marbles children used to play has been relaced by PSP, PS and other electronic devices and such.
But why let the title of the exhibition stifle your imagination? Let it roams free. As such, I'm going to introduce a category (for lack of better word) to get your grey matter going.
4. Conceptual : make your own interpretation of what is 'heritage' meant to you.
You're allowed to stage your photo. You can recreate a scene. You can recreate a photo and added some twist (I'm leaving it to your imagination)
You can send in a series of images (diptych or triptych).
You can send in submission as big as A3 size, or as small as 5R sized.
You can submit your work in colour.
You can submit it in B&W be it in analogue or digital format.
Heck, you can even send in a video installation (replete with projections if the tv set and VCR, ooops, who uses VCR anymore rite? Hey! That falls under the 'Thing' category isn't it *wink*?) if you have the means to do it.
A panel of curators (not members of PhotoMalaysia.com for impartiality) will evaluate the submissions. As such, regarding submission mechanics, please send in your work in soft copy format to lightingdewd@gmail.com . Please use '2nd PhotoMalaysia Annual Exhibition submission' as your title header.
Your submission, in whatever size (5"x7", 8"x10", 11"x14") can be in jpeg format @ 300 dpi and save it @ 'Image Quality' set as '8'. Why such large size?
So we can print it big to asses it's quality. If it's good we even framed it up for you at cost.
You MUST put a caption for your work(s).
You can write a short write up of your work in one paragraph. We may or may not use it.
For hardcopy submissions in the Klang Valley area only, give me a tinkle @ 012 231 5654 to arrange pick-ups and such.
Just in case you're wondering, when you submit your high resolution work, you still retained your rights to the work. In plain language, it's your photo(s) we exhibit it for you..
A section of the exhibition space is being reserved for Crossing Bridges V participants. More details on this later.
Submission of your work will end on the 7th December 2008.
In regards to exhibition space, the venue will still be the same as last year, which is the Annexe Gallery, Central Market. For this exhibition, we are RENTING it RM3,000.00 (RM1,500.00/week for 2 weeks) starting from 12th of January 2009 until the 24th of January 2009. I understand the Chinese Lunar New Year falls on the 25th and 26th of January so some of you will be busy with the celebrations preparing and such.
Have no worry, we're going to have volunteers helping preparing the exhibit and when it ends, dismantling it as well.
We already secured RM1,500.00 for the rental from Shashinki.com and from a PMer who wished to remain anonymous. We still short of RM1,500.00 of which we planned to raised from the members whose work is being selected for the exhibition.
For presentation purpose, selected submissions shall follow a standard Black framing and cream coloured mounting board style. Sample will be posted up soon.
For those who wished to volunteer their time and gaining experience organising and running a photo exhibition, pm me for details.
We planned to launch the exhibition on the 15th of January 2009.
Don't worry about your work 'not being exhibition standards'. Just send in your submissions to the above e-mail address. If you don't try, you definitely will never know
An unknown orchid already blooming for more than 2 weeks. I suppose a Phal of sort.. My wife bought when it was really a small plant without even knowing what kind of orchid, of what colour or how it would turn out to be..
It looks like a hive of sort with a figure of somekind inside the petals..
Last week a friend of mine introduce me to Flock Browser, he said it is easier to navigate between the many web application nowdays.. viewing your friend photos at Flickr or Picasa, reading your email at Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, socializing with friends at Facebook, keeping tabs with your favourites with del.icio.us and many more applications centralized in one place, simple and integrated.
One thing for sure.. Flock Browser will make your daily routine internet social connection and networking much easier to manage and without the hassle of finding Add-ons or Plugins for your browser. Simply download Flock Browsers, install it and you are good to go.
Flock uses the same browser engine as Firefox.. so if you are already familiar with firefox then it shouldn't be that hard diving with Flock... let's flock together..
When I got back from work and switch on my Dell 9300 Notebook about 2 days ago, I was prompted with this error "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: Windows\System32\Hal.dll", what is this... not now I said to myself (hehe.. tone down version of swearing..) Emm well.. I know I have to search for the Windows XP Recovery CD so since I cannot remember where in the world I put it I have to use another computer to find answers..
Searching the net I found out it is a rather common error.. mine I suppose occurs after a windows update process the previous night. Anyhow after borrowing Windows XP Setup CD from office I tried the many ways found in the net how to overcome this problem. One of the way is by booting the windows and then hit "R" to repair the windows intallation. But it asked to put an Administrator Password in which I didn't even remember ever setting it so it is a dead end after countless tries of the many password that I have ever used.
After much deliberation I think I may have a solution that may work, a modification of some of the reading found regarding the error. Below is the steps taken in which I managed to get back my Windows XP the same state before the hal.dll error occurs. I need to write this so that I know at least what to do if ever it happens again in the future.
1. Boot up using the Windows XP Setup CD. 2. Install a new copy of Windows XP onto the same partition with the previous one. (Just press "Enter", if not mistaken) 3. When the program asked which folder to install, use a different one from your windows folder. If you previous one is c:\windows then please use, for example, c:\win2 instead of any name of your choosing. 4. The program will copy the installation software and will restart.. 5. Just let the Installation CD in the CD Drive so that it would boot as if wanted to install new XP again. Don't remove the CD as it would install new Windows XP and you don't really want to do that. 6. This time don't do and installation but hit "R" instead to Repair the XP. 7. Then you will enter a recovery console. 8. It will asked which installation of windows you want to enter, use the new one, say the "c:\win2" not the original one since like I said my original windows got Administrator password, in which I do not know what it is. 9. When it asked for the password just press Enter since the new copy has no password just yet. 10. You then will be entering a command prompt c:\win2>_ 11. Go down to C:>_ ( cd .. ) 12. Change attribute of boot.ini, (attrib -r -s -h boot.ini) 13. Rename or delete the boot.ini file. (ren boot.ini boot.old) or (del boot.ini) 14. Type bootcfg /rebuild 15. When you receive a message that is similar to the following message, press accordingly but you don't want the new boot.ini to add the c:\win2 folder, use the bold as the answer :
Total Identified Windows Installs: 2
[1] C:\Win2 Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All) N [2] C:\Windows Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All) Y Enter Load Identifier Windows XP Home/Professional Edition Enter OS Load options /fastdetect
16. Then press Enter and type Exit to quit the recovery console.
I got my Windows XP back intact with all the progams working perfectly as before... Yeah!!!!. I just delete the c:\win2 folder, thank you for your service. :D
It occurs to me if I were to put "My Windows" as the load indentifier it should works fine also but heck I am not that eager to explore just want my windows back.
Newly evolved "superworms" that feast on toxic waste could help cleanse polluted industrial land, a new study says. These hardcore heavy metal fans, unearthed at disused mining sites in Britain and Wales, devour lead, zinc, arsenic, and copper.
Happy Eid Mubarak or as here in Malaysia.. Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Aidul Fitri... the announcement were made by the authority in the television about half and hour ago that Hari Raya or 1st of Syawal in Islamic calendar will be on the first of October, so it would be just another day of fasting. Most people who celebrate Hari Raya in Malaysia already in the mood and mostly people who works in the big city is heading home is not there already.
Lighting a "Pelita" as shown in the picture on the left is a tradition, it would add a little spice in the festive season. Since price of fuel is higher nowadays, we just put up a few of these Pelita not like when I was a kid where there are so many, and with many shape and sizes.
Next week is Eid Mubarak or here in Malaysia people call it Hari Raya a celebration after a month of fasting for muslim and it is a 2 day public holiday whereby for Malaysia public school.. it is a week long holiday since most school has subsitute the remaining days of the week by conducting schools during weekends. So most school would be closed for a week. And as such most people would be going to their hometown this coming weekend and the roads will be pack with vehicle. And once a while big town like Kuala Lumpur will be a little deserted.
I got these 8 tips from the booklet by the Ministry of Road and Trasportation and it is a rule if people observ carefull would make the journey less hazardous and safer. As a slogan of "Drive, Ride & Walk Safe" where everbody can make a difference.
The 8 Golden Rule of Road Safety are :
1. Plan your journey to avoid last minute rush and panic. For long distance journey make sure you are not tired or sleepy. Also never drive under the influence of alcholol or drug.
2. Obey speed limits. There are there for a purpose.
3. Obey safety rules when changing lanes.
4. Practise safety at traffic intersections by stopping on red adn amber warning sign.
5. Avoid tailgating as it is very dangerous.
6. Always overtake safely, never overtake when in doubt.
7. Don't jump queue, it is rude and dangerous.
8. Don't weave through traffic, it is hazardous and risky.
Some people looked at rules as if meant to be broken but it is definitely there for a reason. Live is precious where you got to experience only once, so please at least abide to the rules as regulary as possible. My wife works at the hospital and she said these few day the Intensive Care Unit is swamps with patience, more than usual and the mortality rate due to accidents is getting higher by the day since there would be more people and vehicle on the road this festive season in Malaysia.
Please don't be a statistic. Drive safely and happy Hari Raya to all Malaysian and especially Muslims all over the world.
Internet is norm today, almost every household in Malaysia would have some kind of internet connection or at least a neighborhood cyber cafe would provide one. And you would see almost everywhere in Malaysia, a cyber cafe would sprung like mushrooms after a rainy season.
Anyhow, I still remember the good old time when surfing the internet is a privileged where only few would experiences. I am one of the lucky ones since I got an older brother that is very keen with electronics and all the technology that come with it. And as such I have had experienced using most of the popular internet surfing tools avaiable, from the text based, Lynx to to ones available today the Internet Explorer and Firefox.
There was a time when Netscape Navigator dominates but Microsoft were soon to react and I suppose IE6 is the final draw that really drew blood and finally Netscape were gone. But lucikly Firefox is here to save the day, or at least to counter the dominance of Internet Explorer with a big bang and I hope it would play a major part in the future of browsers.
There is a new kid in town with a backing of technology none can compare, Chrome browser by Google is getting popular, I suppose it came with the territory, Google is a very Big fish indeed. Anyhow, I really hope in the end these wars would benefit the end users, the consumer to speak.. the best would prevail.
If you have a blog, website, or forum, with a minimum PageRank 1 or Alexa rank under 2,000,000 (2 million), you could earn more money from your website beyond Google Adsense contextual ads. I have recently joined Ask2link.com (http://www.ask2link.com/refer/alwizbme) to enable advertisers to buy ad space on my website. Ask2link.com provides secure, easy, and fast checkout flow so you could get your text link ads or banner ads live within 2 minutes after online payment. Platforms supported include PHP, Ruby on Rails, Perl, ASP, JSP, and hosted blogs at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com . They also provide you with the ability to customize the 'nofollow' tag tag when you sell your ads. This may affect your ad sales, though.
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It is time to put your talent to the test. Take a break and put on your thinking cap. Malaysia's first ever national multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) by PROTON is almost ready. And PROTON is giving you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to create history, by giving a name to the MPV.
Think of a name for our newest family member. The best name submitted could win you a brand new Proton MPV. There are other prizes to be won as well.
Prizes to be won!
Grand Prize: 1 x Proton MPV
Consolation Prizes: 2 x Overseas trip for two worth RM15,000*.
* Prizes are subject to change upon the sole discretion of Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn. Bhd. ("PROTON").
Before you get started, here's what we can tell about the Proton MPV.
It is comfortable: It means more leg rooms, more space to carry your luggage and most of all it is a car for the entire family to travel in.
It is affordable: Malaysians love value-for-money and Proton MPV is giving Malaysians just that!
I was bored the other day so I thought of doing some card dropping thru Entrecard and after a few while got tired of it. Then I found this site about how to do a 300 drops fast at this site, http://www.tysblog.com, nice trick but still it took a while to do them since it all depends on your internet connection and I didn't find it fun unless all the bookmarks are your own and something that you really found of.
So I thought why don't I do stumble and then find all the people who like entrecard, so it would be just click and click of the stumble button and I would at least landed on interesting pages and at the same time would have an Entrecard button.
So here it goes...
1. Log in to you stumbleupon account then it would automatically redirect you to your home at stumbleupon.
2. Type "entrecard" at the search form on the right top corner
4. Then click on "I like pages about entrecard", so if any of your pages got stumble you would be in the list for future stumblers.
5. Then click on "Stumble pages about this", and you would see that the channel at your StumbleUpon toolbar is now set to the "entrecard" channel.
So now whenever you click on the Stumble! button you would landed with an interesting stumbled site that if you like it then click "I like it" and at the same time you can drop a card. Though maybe I won't be able to get to 300 drops a day but it would be more fun this way.
Canon Goes Green is a movement aims to create an awareness about environmental preservation.. you can be a volunteer or just even submit a photo that would lead to a nature conservation awareness.
Today is the 1st of September and it is also the first day of fasting month of Ramadan for muslims all over the world. It is a month that if you are a muslim you cannot eat and drink from sun up to sun down. Fasting is said would give your body a rest physically and mentally due to a whole year round of abuse and I suppose it could easily be proven through some scientific experiments.
Every year I have always looking forward for the month of Ramadan because during this time you would somehow tone down your activities and normally I would be able to lose some weight without any real effort. But the hardest part is normally to 100% embrace the spirit of Ramadan, somehow remind me of the three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and talk no evil.. you actually have to spiritually fasting also. And even hardest part come time to break from the fast after sun down, the temptation of food is even more of a burden.. but I suppose with all the food stall selling all varieties you won't find everyday and found once a year only during the month of Ramadan would be an interesting view to be captured and photographed..
Anyhow, here I would like to wish all muslims, wherever you are a very good Ramadan ahead and may there be peace to the world, for years and years to come.
Embarking in a new project sometimes is very tiring since no matter how much reading has been done or how much theories you presume you know it still won't really match up with the real thing, or won't really be the same as getting your hands dirty with it.
A few weeks ago I tried on a new project, a small scale just to find out what is it the hype about raising bunch of creatures, lives in a damp places high in humidity soil named worms. At first it seems very messy and somewhat many people would stay away but somehow after about a week it was kind fun. And looking at them worms wiggling themselves trying to run away from light is rather amusing.
I have put up a different blog for this I hope I'll be able to somehow write a journal about this also there.
Today is another unique day that passes by in my life time.. I suppose about a year ago I did write about 777, 7 th Day of the 7th Month of 7 th Year and here I am again writing about another day with another number. The Chinese believe that the number 8 is a very lucky one and as such triple 8 would be three times more. And mostly in Malaysia where the cross culture syndrome can be seen bridging from one to the other, even many Malays get marriage today because of the date.
And I spoke with one of the Imam the other day, he is fully booked to handle a Nikah or marriage vow ceremony throughout the day, some booked as early as 8 in the morning. And since it is also a Friday which is in Islam is a very good day to do stuff it added weigh even more.
As for me I do hope a long live and prosper, I do hope I would be writing again and again and again...
This set of pictures was taken on 26th of July 2008, at the Flora Parade 2008 in conjunction to the Flora Fest 2008 which was held on 23-29th of July 2008 at Danga Bay, Johor Bahru Malaysia. It was a festival of fun, full of flower which was highlighted with this parade event.
I was lucky to be able to watch the show because I had to send my wife to a seminar somewhere nearby the parade show, and later the day we are able to watch all the float at one place as they were stored in a big air conditioned warehouse showroom at Danga Bay.
Head of to my gallery for the full pictures taken at the parade.
Today, when I login to my blogspot account I was instantly prompted to read an article at blogspot official blog about Knol, short for knowledge. I suppose I have heard about this for quite some time already and finally it is here.
My first impression about Knol is.. emm not bad, something to challenge Wikipedia on collection of knowledge but one thing for certain is that Knol would be really written by the expert as of this moment at least though anybody have right to pitch in. I, myself just want to feel how the interface would be and first sight it is cool, where Wiki syntax is a new language one need to learn, Knol way of tackling it just like an old school WYSIWYG kind of interface, a normal word processing tool. Somehow, it makes you feel like writing a blog.
But I suppose my english is not at par with the current so called Knol writers and my knowledge about things are not that great that I could claim as mine yet. It is because that would be one drawback to attract people to write a Knol in comparison to Wiki. The existing articles in Knol were written by men/women of knowledge or should I say again an expert in their playing field so a simple guy like me writing for a unit of knowledge in Knol would we rather far fetch, it would take years and lots and lots of practice to get to the level of the existing writers.
Well, I am not saying Wikipedia's contents are not realiable, it is just that Wikipedia is too vast and somehow many information could be written without prior confirmation or even consent especially when someone is without ethics. But to get to the current level I really salute the people who dedicated their life to support Wikipedia and contribute to its content. I guess Wiki not has a rival that is as big and as strong in every departments.
So as for me, I suppose I have just able to write a blog at blogspot, though hopefully I could progress to a better level in the future or maybe I could try writing at Wikipedia, to make my marks in the vast spaces of virtual world of WWW.
The title above is actually a title of a song that can be considered an evergreen rock ballad genre song. It is in Malay in which translated would mean something live "When you are loved". It has a sweet melody and with a powerful lyric that if one know related story behind the song could really touch ones heart. I for once during one of a motivational session attended recently somehow simply broke in tears without any reservation when this song was played.
It is basically a real life story about the singer of the song, his hardship, broken marriage and all of it happens because of his kid that is supposedly only got a few months to live. It was during his peak time as a singer and when he turned to friends for support not many actually given all out to help him. So to cut the story short he turn to God and finally find solace and solitude.
The video clip doesn't really do justice to the song since for commercial purpose it was shown as if a song about love of man & woman. Anyhow, I don't want to really translated the song due to its complexity but nevertheless the melody should be an enjoyable one and soothes one ears.
A Karaoke Version.
Why do I write this, emm.. well going home today the song was played over the radio and somehow the tune just want to get away, it's keeps humming in my head as if asking me to write something about it. So here it is.
It has been a very busy month for me, with the work loads, with personal projects and I almost forgotten about my blog. Em well, today is 1st of July 2008, the beginning of the second half of year 2008. Looking back I think I have achieved a fraction of what I have planned in the beginning of the year. I do hope that I would continue the current progress and hopefully by the end of the year I would at least achieve 70% of this year target.
Life has been a bless though a little setback in life when my wife suffered a miscarriage on May. But though I am a bit sad life still has to continue and just hope for a better future for my family.
Last month I managed to get involved with a photo shoots for my sister-in-laws photos session at a simple made-up studio, it was my first time shooting at a studio and without proper lighting equipments, with just my Canon Speedlight I managed to shoot a few of I suppose a better quality pictures in comparison with the old days of shooting with built-in flash. It all thanks to The Know you Flash class I attended back in May. Just head on to my tropicalbloom gallery at flickr for some of the photos.
Emm well, I suppose this is the only things that I can write for now, just hoping I could write more in the future if not then at least post some photos of my daily life.
I took this video using my Nikon Coolpix at my cousin's wedding and put it up at dailymotion almost 2 years ago, was surprise to came across it again yesterday, totally forgotten about it already. So I put up here so I can remember to find it again if I want to.
I was trying to take this orchid with an off camera flash using my Canon Speedlite 580 EXII with a wireless trigger handheld in one hand the flash in the other my Canon EOS 40D.
The speedite was position at about 8 o'clock from parallel to the camera and tilting upward with a flash card 1/4 length. I suppose if I were to have a second flash of any light at all on the right side it would be a perfect capture without the harsh shadows on the right.
Anyhow, this is an orchid of type Kagawara Sandy Gold.
This orchid emits a sweet fragrance. It is a species of Vanda orchid and searching the internet I found it to be Vanda Kultana Fragrance orchid. It is a rather hot days these few months and somehow most of my wife's orchid want to produce some flowers, maybe it is a reproduction time because I remember somebody once said to me that plants mostly will produce flowers to re-produce so when everything is A ok and enough water, sunshine and everything cozy it would definitely produce blooms after blooms.
This is a beautiful tiger stripe orchid that never stop blooming. At first it would only produce one flower at a time but lately there would be at least three flowers all the time, when one faded away one would already blooming in its place.
If not mistaken this one is a wild one whereby it can be found by the road side if you are lucky, this particular plant originated from Borneo cannot remember whether from Sabah or Sarawak brought back by my sister from her trips there few year back.
This orchid is one of the many beautiful orchid from the species of Phalaenopsis violacea. This one is a small orchid from one tip to other just barely 20 cm. This particular one is almost as if sitting on one of it's leaves as if taking a break from a hectic world of gardens.
This picture was taken when the sun just about setting so I have to use an external flash. The flash was held in one hand while the camera in the other. The flash was triggered using a wireless trigger connected to the camera.
Jonker Walk holds a lot of treasures if one know where to look and I suppose need to go there again next time to really appreciate the time and space presented.
One can take a stroll along the many streets of the area or even take a Beca or tri-cycle with a fair fee to have a guide around the Walk and trough the many smaller street in the area.
It was fun, and I have this nagging feeling my wife would really love venturing from one shop to the other.
You can view the outing posting at photomalaysia.com : Here.
On Saturday I managed to attend the 16th Ted Adnan Lighting Workshop at his Barebone studio at Kajang, Selangor. It was a new experience playing with an external lighting source, multiple strobe/flash units, and how to make use of your surrounding ambient light.. It was fun and I suppose needs lot of practice in order to really master the lights in photography and I suppose it would be the main ingredient in producing stunning photos.. know you light source.
I really like this photo but unfortunately it is rather so and not sharp.. due to camera shake and unsteady hand, really need a tripod taking photo without a flash to capture with only the available lights.
Theme: Mother, Mak, Mama ...appreciation to all the mothers in the world...
Submission period: Now - 31st May 2008
Voting period: Early June 2008
All Entries MUST follow the following guidelines, if not the entry will be disqualified without notification.
Entries are NOT VISIBLE until the voting period.
Guidelines:
1. Image Size: 500-1000 pixels on the maximum side. No restriction on minimum side. (eg. 1000x400 or 400x1000 pixels) 2. File Size: Not more than 1MB. 3. Submit using the ATTACHMENT function in this thread. Hotlinked images will be disqualified. Post a reply to this thread with your entry and the number of the entry. 4. One photo per theme per member. You are not allowed to change your entries once submitted. 5. Do not include a watermark in your image, this is to ensure unbiased voting later on. 6. No borders/frames are allowed. 7. Any comments or unrelated posts will be deleted without warning. 8. Entrants must type “Agree to PhotoMalaysia Contest Terms and Conditions” when replying/uploading images to the contest. Without the above phrase, entries will be disqualified. Please read and understand the T&C.
FAQ: Please click on the FAQ link for questions and answers -> FAQ.
Prizes: 1. Winning photo with the highest votes will be showcased on the front page of PhotoMalaysia and on a sticky thread on PhotoMalaysia's Best of the Year subforum.
2. Winner will also get a Canon Selphy ES-1 Printer, sponsored by Canon Malaysia!
3. Winning photo is entitled to enter year end vote for Best of Year 2007 to win the grand prize of Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR Camera + EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS Lens, sponsored by Canon Malaysia!
In todays world a good photography classes is almost as expensive as owning a good photography equipments but hope is not lost since there are many online communities that concentrate on photography and photography equipments if you know how to find them.
There are so many out there but below are the most photo communities that I visit regularly :
1. PhotoMalaysia. - Malaysian based - Language : English, Malay, mixed. - Community chats, events and gathering. - Monthly Photo contest, exhibition.
2. Shutterasia - Malaysian based - Language : English, Malay, mixed. - Community chats, events and gathering. - Good lists of local photo shops.
3. Velocity Forum - Malaysian based - Language : English, Malay, mixed. - Community chats, events and gathering. - Monthly photo contest, online and offline through locally distributed magazine. - Great on the shelf Digital Camera Magazine (DCM) based on UK DCM. - Preview of DCM May 2008 -> Preview.
5. Photo.net - International - Language : English. - Question and Answer style. - Reviews of photo equipments. - Great articles, e.g Building a Digital SLR System
6. POTN (Photography-on-the-net) - International - Forum based communities exclusive for Canon photo equipments. - Gallery, marketplace, etc.
And there are many more like the lensamalaysia.com, the Fotopages Malaysia Community (FDMC) and of course the very famous places like Flickr and Fotopages where you could find tonnes of information to sharpen your photographic skills.
I bought my Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera last year with a lens kit of Canon 18-55mm IS. Canon EOS 40D is a great camera with various feature aiming for a serious hobbyist photographer, even though I am not that level yet I am trying hard to become one and maybe in the future might actually become a professional photographer.
When I got the camera, my first impression was that Canon EOS 40D is a rather bulky camera. Luckily my hand is big enough that the camera fits comfortably in my palm. The camera came with a kit lens Canon 18-55mm IS, a very light and wobbly lens but I think it suits perfectly with the camera and with me while I learn how to use my 40D.
I used to own SLR camera before but I but it was my brother's in which when he lost interest with it I took it from him. It was a Minolta X700 and I was very happy with it until it broke and cost of repair was the same as buying a new camera. But during that time I was very busy with work, so I simply forgotten about photography until my wife bought a Canon film, point and shoot camera. But then it is also the same time as the pixel world exploded where camera was getting cheaper and pixel kept getting higher, the need to own a digital camera made us bought a digital point and shoot camera, a Nikon Coolpix P1. It is a good point and shoot with a WiFi feature that can transfer photos without wire to any personal computers with WiFi built-in devices which most of the latest laptop is already equipped with.
Somehow or rather the interest came back and I started to learn back how to take photos and I suppose it is just like riding a bike, you can't really forget how, and not for long that I started feeling the limitation of point and shoot (PnS) so I started looking for a better camera. So after a few months of surveying, lurking from one photo forum to the other, reading reviews from one site to the other I finally get a hold of my first DSLR, a Canon EOS 40D. Now, the new camera already changes my life, and I hope for a long and beautiful friendship ahead..
About 2-3 months or so after that I bought a new lens Tamron Zoom Telephoto AF 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD Macro to get a feel of using a tele-zoom for some reach. It is a cheap lens in comparison to other lens just a couple hundred dollars. But my justification of buying this is that I want to get to know how to handle this range of reach using el'chepo first before committing to a more expensive one. A camera like Canon EOS 40D is a cropped camera which is 1.6 times. This means that if I got a lens of 70-300, the actual zoom reach would be times 1.6 that is 112-480mm so having 70-300mm lens is not bad at all using a cropped camera. So taking photos of birds are possible.
Most the photos found in this blog would be taken using the Canon EOS 40D and the Nikon Coolpix P1.
I went by Danga Bay, Johor Baharu last Saturday and saw a group of people in the process of putting a large hot air balloon. It was my first time to be able to watch people setting up a hot air balloon like this.
One of the most well known old mosque in the state of Johor, Malaysia. It was said to be built in the late of 18th century under the direction of Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor. It was also said by many that the mosque was build without the use of any modern building material like cement and people are still debating on what or how the bricks are able to be placed firmly together and what exactly been used in place of cements, some legend said yolk were used, instead.
I went to Pantai Tanjung Leman, Mersing or Tanjung Leman Beach early April to send off one mof my cousin to her new acquired family through marriage. It is accustom for a relative to join the family for sending off after marriage to the new family. Her husband's family lives somewhere at a place called Tenggaroh, Mersing and it is very close by at about 11 kilometer to the Tanjung Leman Beach.
Tanjung Leman Beach is a typical east coach beach of Malaysia, a white beautiful sandy beach. But somehow when I got to the beach, it is a wrong time of the day that the water line was too far away and this made the beach not very attractive at all. To reach the water line is muddy all the way and not very much swimming can be done. Anyhow do enjoy a few photos taken at the beach.
My little angels.. Amal, Yasmin and Farzana. Three little figures that brighten the days Small yet so agile and need lots of energy just to keep up with 'em But at the end of the day it all been worthwhile Non can compare the joy the laughter the cries the nagging the fun the fulfillment of having these three little angels...
This is my kid, Zana, turn to do an art with torchlight, it is nothing really but it is way better then what she used to do on the wall, at least you don't have to re-paint the wall to get it clean. I need to encourage both kids Zana & Amal, to paint using torch lights. The cost of batteries are way cheaper then a can of paint. :D and less headache also.
My kid, Amal, trying to paint a star using a torchlight while i was trying to capture the movement using my camera. A 3 seconds exposure and with the camera mounted on a tripod and attached to remote shutter release. After a few tries this is the best one, not bad for a first timer, may be next time could be better.
This bug landed on my Laptop screen and just don't want to fly away. So, I bring out the camera, attach the flash and put on a Raynox macro filter to capture the bug up close and personal.
The picture was taken using my Nokia N73, the morning sun is just rising on the horizon and though it is almost 7.30 in the morning, the surrounding still quiet dark.
Here in Malaysia, now it is 6:43 am in the morning, just had my Subuh prayer and a cup of coffee... hehe just like the sound of it, actually no coffee yet.. just getting ready to go to work. The kids are still sleeping and it's about time for them to get up. Just that I was downloading something from the net last night so the computer is still on.. just feel like writing something or nothing at all...
Anyhow, one thing that I notice almost immediately is that the date for today is Feb 1st, 2008. The first breeze that came to mind is that one month already passed by, time do fly so fast nowadays. Or your life is getting busier that you didn't really notice every little bits of detail in of life makes you think time moves faster than before.
And the sad part is that I did have the chance to pick up my camera as frequent as usual so there is not much new interesting photos except for the candid ones. Em.. well I think I'll make one resolution for just this month, for starter at least to take one photo a day for a month.
Emm, lets see how it turns out. :D ok signing off... yo kids get up time to go to school..
Mesjid Sultan Ismail, Batu Pahat is the main mosque in the district of Batu Pahat. It is a beautiful mosque in which the dome sometimes resembles an egg plant.
Jelajah Malaysia 2008 is a bicycle racing that run through major cities in Malaysia. Last week Stage 3 of the racing end at Batu Pahat and Stage 4 started at Batu Pahat the next morning and I managed to capture a few photos of the riders. Though I waited almost half an hour for the rider to passed by with in mind a few angle of shot to be taken, with my limited experience in taking photos of sports action like this when they finally came I am at lost and don't really know how to capture the essence of the racing. Well I suppose with practice I would get better since one of my resolution for this year it to take better photography with my new Canon EOS 40D.
New year already came and a week has gone by, looking back at 2007 these are a few photos that I have put in this blog for your viewing pleasure. In 2008, I am hoping that I could take better eye catching photograph and share here as well. Hope you enjoy them so far and have a nice year ahead.
Shareapic Photo Gallery
Kuda Kepang
Orchid Gallery
Nature and Wildlife
Johor Motocross Championship 2007
Flickr Photo Gallery
Flickr photo gallery is one of the most handy and easiest to manage online photo gallery. You can put all of your photo collection regardless of size and it's online so that it is accessible just with an internet connection. Previously, I used to put all my photos at webshots and a few other places but soon I found out that it is rather troublesome with that other places because of excessive advertisement and not easily maneuver, the navigation, menus is rather limited.
Later on, I found flickr and it slowly became a favourite for hosting all my sharable pictures. In fact I can have sets of photos that can be tagged as private that selected people only can view them.
As a free member, with just a Yahoo ID, one can have unlimited space at flickr. There is a few limitation with free account, you have a limit of upload bandwidth per month, 100MB if not mistaken, limited sets or category of photos, and so on check out the faq at flickr. But with just USD24.95 you can become a Pro and have many more options and features.
Do you like the photo in this blog and want to frame and print it on your wall... Just click on the banner on the right to get it print and sent directly to your home, you can get it to be printed on canvas to get a more dramatic effect. From just 10 dollars one of the photo can be yours.
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